NY Daily News layoffs: Why didn't you buy one for the past year?

Everyone is pissing and moaning about the latestround of layoffs at the New York Daily News, despite the fact it was sold one year ago for $1 (yes a single dollar) and layoffs have been happening ever since. Nobody needed a weatherman to know which way this wind was blowing.

KD weighs in after Michael Kay gets it wrong.

If all the people currently popping off about this tragedy had just bought the damn newspaper everyday, this wouldn't be happening! There are roughly 20 million people in the NYDN distribution radius for Chrissake ($0.50/day x 20 million x 365.25 = $3.652+ billion/year).

If the internet paywall and endless pop-up ads on the www.nydailynews.com website weren't enough of a clue, front page wrap-around advertisements are a sure sign of fiscal distress for a newspaper. Just the day before yesterday (Sunday July 22, 2018) I was in my local deli and saw a stack of unsold NYDN newspapers and I asked the proprietor why they were still on the shelf at 7:30pm. His answer: “Nobody buy.”

Unless you live in a cave and are somehow reading this Op-Ed on something other than the internet, you know there is no reason to purchase a newspaper. Why buy the cow when the sex is free?

As for the hard-working and let's face it, venerable, NYDN reporting staff – the Sports Desk was hit particularly hard – if they didn't see this coming, they need glasses. Any time your employer gets bought and/or sold, the first thing that happens is layoffs.

The whole point of purchasing any business is because the purchaser sees inefficiencies in the business model and that more-than-usually begins with trimming payroll. Ask Derek Jeter. The NYDN has been hemorrhaging money for years. What does everyone expect to happen, for new owner TRONC (Garbage name, we can all agree) to keep throwing good money after bad?

These are by all accounts, good reporters and good people just stuck in a bad situation. But selling buggy whips when everyone has an automobile is not good business. We need information more than ever nowadays, so the talented reporters will land on their feet. Or they will learn a new skill and take a new direction in life.

Michael Bloomberg was once fired from his job. Instead of crying about it he Carpe Diem'd and became a billionaire. I wish that for all of the affected NYDN staffers...But everyone should have seen this coming.